estoy caliente - hacer calor!

i bought a cd off the guy on the right. the other guy had on two hats and was trying to buy a cassette of crazy mexican music but seem to like hanging around more than actually buying it.

(beware long blog ahead...but don't worry, you can always be like the garbs and just look at the pictures - and there are lots of them today.)

after my shower this morning - oh, right, i didn't get to have one - i headed out to go to the market in tlacolula ( tlacolula la merced) - a huge market they have every sunday out there - probably 35 kms. from oaxaca central - and ran into bill from wisconsin and after a short visit with wendy on the street - he was going to see her - we all headed to a mercado very close to my place and ate breakfast. it was great. basically an open faced tortilla a woman made fresh in front of us and then threw it on a grill and added stuff to it - ours had squash blossoms, mushrooms, cheese and pork. wicked. that and the fresh squeezed orange juice came to about 4 bucks...i think.
bill and i then went for a walk and came across some guys playing baseball so we watched that for a bit and then i jumped in a colectivo and headed to the market. me and four others.
the market is insane. meat out in the air just hanging out. no refridgeration, turkeys there for you to take home and make, um..well, dinner out of, fruit, fresh drinks, clothing, tools, cds, videos, etc...you name it and it's probably there. it's a huge market - take granville island market and times it by ten - perhaps. stall after stall, and every manner of thing for sale scattered on the ground. initially i didn't see very many gringos there but as i was leaving i think a bus or two must have parked outside and let the throngs off as i saw more camera around necks than i've seen since being here. i figured i picked a good time to leave. though i wasn't totally sure where i was going...
oh...side note. i/we often wonder/laugh at the people who are in granville island market taking pictures of the fruit...'hey guess what? i was at the market and someone was taking pics of the tomatoes again..."...well, i was that guy today. i guess sometimes you need pics of fruit and meat.
esconce.
i ended-up walking down the highway towards the bus stop - or so i thought. but it seemed to be a long way to the bus stop, in fact, i didn't really ever find it....i just kept walking - which i was happy to do...but it was hot today and my back was acting up so a bus or colectivo would have been great...i finally, as i was clearly now on the highway and no longer in the city, stopped and waited to see if a bus would just stop for me...after a while, not long, one came along and i was on my way...
i had wanted to stop near teotitlan, the town i was at yesterday, because there is an artisan mezcal shop/distillery there and i wanted to stop and have a look...unfortunately when i got of the bus and looked over towards the distillery, there were five or six white tour vans/busses there all at once and i just couldn't go over...now don't get me wrong, tours are cool - just not my deal. and i could see lots of guys over across the highway smoking big cigars and wearing the big straw hats they had just bought and bad singlets/wife-beaters and i just had to say no. i'm not better, just different - i'm uneasy in large groups so... i'll go back another time. don't worry tornack, i'll get you some mezcal.
so i hoped another bus and headed back to town where i bought some jugo, my first piece of tourista goods and then had lunch. i'm beat.
after a little relax it's studying and getting ready for school tomorrow...i better get better in the second week.

g. xo

random street shots from today.



the market...holy cow.

need a turkey?

i love the picture of the chicken running and the balloon above his head as he thinks of himself...well, herself, as a dead chicken.

mucho chilis.

how about some warm beef?

or a awesome bbq chicken...?

i'm not sure what they were cooking but it looked great...

the vegables looked great as well. i bought some bananas for approx. 30 cents.


these are large fried pork skins. bueno.

the church at the market.

esconce. these women walked across the highway because they wanted to a: get to the otherside and b: get up into the village of miotitlan but they realized it was a bit of a walk...then a truck came by and offered them a ride so they all piled in the back of it...awesome.



often when i'm walking around dogs bark at me from rooftops. scares the shit out of you if you're not paying attention.

they breakfast we had this morning had squash leaves in it...excellent source of something.

bill loves it...

it was great. i added some salsa and was very satisfied.

this woman nakes each tortilla by hand, throws it on the grill, adds the stuff we asked for and away it cooks...she's moving the entire time, stoking the fire, making tortillas, adding ingredients, etc...a house on fire.

the game bill and i saw on the way to the colectivo. not great players but i liked watching them play.

my comida today. i was very hungry. i hadn't eaten since breakfast so this hit the spot. mole coloradito con pollo w/ tortillas and nice bottle of beer w/ some fresh flan for desert. good fuckin' lord it was good...

i had my gear washed but not dried so it's like a mini-laundry in my place right now...